Minimum wages have been a subject at the ILO since its creation in 1919.

Based on the view that “universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice”, the 1919 ILO Constitution called in its Preamble for an urgent improvement of conditions of labour, including “the provision of an adequate living wage”.

In 1944, the ILO Declaration of Philadelphia referred to the importance of “a minimum living wage to all employed and in need of such protection”. This was reiterated in the 2008 ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization.

Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26)

In 1928, the ILO adopted the Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26) . In line with the prevailing philosophy of the time, this Convention encouraged member States to implement minimum wages “for workers employed in certain of the trades or parts of trades (and in particular in home working trades) in which no arrangements exist for the effective regulation of wages by collective agreement or otherwise and wages are exceptionally low”. Agriculture was excluded.

With more than 100 ratifications, Convention No. 26 remains to this day one of the most widely ratified ILO Conventions . It is complemented by Recommendation No. 30 , which calls for the participation of women in wage-fixing bodies and for strong enforcement measures to protect law-abiding employers from unfair competition.

Agricultural workers and seafarers

In the second half of the twentieth century, the ILO participated in the extension of minimum wage protection to previously excluded categories